No-Go-Zone Spotters

Don't compromise your Legal obligations and Workers' Safety.

Construction & Maintenance Industry workers
or anyone using Elevated Work Platform Equipment
and working in the vicinity of Power Lines in Victoria
must adopt Best Practice Guidelines
overseen Energy Safe Victoria & enforced by Worksafe.

If you or your staff are working near power lines, it is not
worth the risk to take short-cuts. Trying to get a job done quickly can
turn into tragedy -
and the consequences may be much worse than just a monetary fine.

Why do we need a Safety Spotter?

What is the role of a Spotter?

Power lines have become so much a part of our outdoor
landscape that it is easy to forget that they are there. When there's
sun in you eyes, trees in your line of vision or the need to
be
watching something else, you cannot see exactly how close you come to
powerlines.

Tragically, there have been too many electricity-related
deaths and countless accidents that could have been prevented had more
care been taken around power lines on work sites.

The Spotter's sole
purpose is to watch over the Worker(s) and
their machinery & tools to make sure that they don't get too
close.

The term Spotter
is defined by Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) as a Safety
Observer who is a person competent for the
sole task of observing and warning against
unsafe approach to overhead power lines and
other electrical apparatus.

What can go wrong?

Split second lapse of concentration - lifetime consequences

An alarming incident at
Norlane, near Geelong, resulted in
another timely warning from the OCEI about the importance of "Look Up
And Live".

In the incident, a 26 year
old man received third degree burns
to his face, neck, chest and arms while working on an elevated platform
near overhead power lines.

The OCEI issued a media
release warning that electricity can
jump gaps - and the consequences can be tragic. Chief Electrical
Inspector Ken Gardner, said in the release: "It is important for
people to realise that electricity can jump across gaps - and sometimes
can kill.

"While everyone needs to
Look Up And Live whether working or
enjoying recreational pursuits near power lines, it is obvious that
operators of elevated platforms and other large equipment need to take
particular care when maneuvering such plant.

"Unfortunately it seems
that some operators are not aware of
the No Go Zone Rules which must be followed when large items of plant
or equipment are operated near power lines," he said.

Mr Gardner issued the
following advice to people working near
power lines:

Study the 'No Go Zone'
Rules to find out what can and what
cannot be done.